The first act you will be asked about

The Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “The first thing for which a person will be brought to account on the Day of Resurrection will be his prayer. If it is sound, he will be successful, and if it is lacking in any way, he will be doomed. If his obligatory prayers are lacking, the Lord will say: “Look and see whether My slave has any voluntary prayers which may be used to make up what is lacking in his obligatory prayers.” Then all his deeds will be examined and dealt with in the same way.’”

[Sunan al-Tirmidhi no. 413; see also Saheeh al-Jaami’, 2020]

Commentary:

The full narration of the above Hadith is as follows:

Narrated by Hurayth ibn Qubaysah, who said: “I came to Madeenah and prayed, ‘O Allah, send me a righteous companion.’ I went and sat with Abu Hurayrah and said: ‘I asked Allaah to bless me with a righteous companion; tell me a hadith that you heard from the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam), so that I may benefit therefrom.’ He said: ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) say that the first thing for which a person will be brought to account on the Day of Resurrection will be his prayer. If it is sound, he will be successful, and if it is lacking in any way, he will be doomed. If his obligatory prayers are lacking, the Lord will say: “Look and see whether My slave has any voluntary prayers which may be used to make up what is lacking in his obligatory prayers.” Then all his deeds will be examined and dealt with in the same way.’”

We derive the following from the above Hadith:

The most important act after your belief is the prayer.

The first thing you will be asked about on the Day of Judgement is the Prayer.

If your prayer (the five daily obligatory prayers) are sound, then everything else will be likewise.

If your prayer (the five daily obligatory prayers) are lacking, then everything else will be likewise.

The importance of the voluntary prayers which will fill the void if your obligatory prayers are lacking.

There is no success for the one who does not establish the prayer.

The mercy, wisdom and justice of Allah who is Ar-Rahman (the Most Merciful), the most wise and the most just.